Cover for a Smallsword Hilt

Leather bags of this kind were intended as covers to protect the hilts of smallswords, the ubiquitous side-arm of the eighteenth-century gentleman. These covers, called "hoods" in English documents, were provided by the sword cutler, or fourbisseur, and (at least in the two known French examples) bore his name as an advertisement. Another leather cover stamped with the name of the Paris cutler Pagès is also in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum (acc. no. 1995.52). A delightful example of eighteenth-century ephemera, this cover complements the Metropolitan Museum’s extensive collection of French smallswords.

Credit: Purchase, Gift of William H. Riggs, by exchange, 2017